Greener 4 life Blog Posts Page One
Planting Winter Canola Guide
Cover Crop And Green Manure
You can use winter canola as a cover crop and grow it for use as green manure and prevent weeds from moving in.
Because it's so simple to grow and requires minimal tending, it has gained popularity with many gardeners. The minimum pH is 5.5 but responds better to something around 7.0.
Read PostPlanting Ball Clover Guide
Cover Crop And Green Manure
You can use ball clover (Trifolium nigrescens) as a cover crop. Being a member of the legume family, it will add nitrogen to the soil, prevent weeds from moving in, and grow them for use as green manure.
Being a honey plant, it will attract beneficial insects and pollinators like bees and butterflies to our garden.
Read PostPlanting Grass Peas Guide
Cover Crop And Green Manure
Chickling Vetch, also known as grass peas, Indian vetch, or Indian pea, and scientifically called Lathyrus sativus L. It is popular as a cover crop and green manure and works excellently in intercropping and crop rotation gardens.
It is important to know that the immature seeds are toxic and can cause the disease lathyrism in large quantities.
Read PostPlanting Winter Triticale Guide
Winter Triticale Cover Crop And Green Manure
Winter Triticale is a self-pollinating annual winter grain developed by crossing winter wheat and winter rye together.
You can use winter triticale as a cover crop and grow it for use as green manure to add some nutrients and organic material into the soil while preventing weeds from moving in.
Read PostPlanting White Prairie Clover
White Prairie Clover Cover Crop And Green Manure Guide
You can use white prairie clover (Dalea candida) as a cover crop. Being a member of the legume family, it will add nitrogen to the soil, prevent weeds from moving in, and grow them for use as green manure.
It attracts beneficial insects and pollinators like bees and butterflies to our garden.
Read PostPlanting Field Beans
Cover Crop And Green Manure
You can use winter field beans as a cover crop to add some nitrogen into the soil, prevent weeds from moving in, and grow them for use as green manure.
They are a cool-season crop, also called winter field beans, but not an actual winter-season one like winter rye since they will die off when the weather gets to about 12F(-9C).
Read PostPlanting Yellow Sweet Clover
Yellow Sweet Clover as a Cover Crop And Green Manure
Yellow sweet clover (Melilotus Officinalis), also known as yellow melilot, ribbed melilot, and common melilot, the plant is a biennial broadleaf member of the legume family and originates from Europe and Asia. It was brought to the U.S around the late 1600s.
They adapt well to different soil conditions as long as the ground has good drainage.
Read PostPlanting Teff Grass
Teff Grass as a Cover Crop And Green Manure
Teff grass has been used in horticulture for thousands of years. It is easy to grow and can get used as a cover crop and a source of green manure to improve our garden's soil.
Teff grass is a warm-season annual grass that is native to Africa. In the past, it was a grain crop, but recently there is interest in using it as a forage crop.
Read PostPlanting Forage Oats
Forage Oats as a Cover Crop And Green Manure
You can use forage oats as a cover crop and grow them for use as green manure to add nutrients and extra organic matter into the soil. It will also prevent weeds from moving in.
It is a versatile cover crop that can get planted at different times throughout the season. Being simple to grow and requiring minimal tending, it has gained popularity among many gardeners and farmers.
Read PostPlanting Alsike Clover
Alsike Clover Cover Crop And Green Manure
Alsike clover (Trifolium hybridum) adapts very well to many conditions. It is commonly seen on roadsides and in moist pastures and fields.
It performs best in full sunlight and tolerates acidic, alkaline, infertile, and poorly drained soils. Its one real weakness is dry soils, which do not last long.
Read PostPlanting Partridge Pea
Partridge Pea Cover Crop And Green Manure
The partridge pea plant, also called Chamaecrista fasciculata, is a member of the legume family and is an easy way to increase the amount of nitrogen in your garden naturally.
The partridge pea captures the nitrogen in the air, moving it to its roots where this bacteria will convert it into a usable format in the soil for other plants.
Read PostPlanting Velvet Beans
Velvet Beans Cover Crop And Green Manure
The velvet bean is a long climbing vine tropical legume, making white or purple flowers with deep purple bean pods. They have gained popularity as a medicine, cover crop, forage crop, source of green manure, and to a small extent, food.
Being a legume family member means you can use it as an organic method of adding nitrogen to your soil.
Read PostPlanting Winter Barley
Winter Barley Cover Crop And Green Manure
Many gardeners are looking for a cover crop that will not reseed on our gardens and can get tilled into the soil to improve its quality. Winter barley is a great choice and is one of the first domesticated crops.
Because it's so simple to grow and requires minimal tending, it has gained popularity with many gardeners.
Read PostPlanting White Clover
White Clover Cover Crop And Green Manure
White clover is excellent as a cover crop to help prevent weeds from moving in on our garden while planting our primary plants. Like all plants, it has multiple names like Dutch White, New Zealand White, and Ladino.
It is a member of the legume family. It is an organic gardening method to add some extra nitrogen to our soil that our other crops can use.
Read PostPlanting Cowpeas
Cowpeas Cover Crop And Green Manure
The cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) is an annual legume also known as the southern pea, blackeye pea, crowder pea, lubia, niebe, coupe, or frijole.
Since it is a member of the legume family, it will help to capture nitrogen in the air and place it in a usable format for our intercropped plants.
Read PostHairy Vetch Cover Crop
Planting Hairy Vetch
Hairy vetch is a viney legume and winter hardy cover crop that we can grow near the end of the season. It will help prevent soil erosion, limit runoff, and add more organic matter and nutrients into our soil.
Many gardeners and farmers consider it one of the best nitrogen fixers that can help us reduce the use of chemical fertilizers.
Read PostForage Radish Cover Crop
Planting Forage Radish
Gardeners and farmers can benefit by using forage radishes, also called daikon, tillage, or Japanese radishes, as a cover crop for our soil. They provide benefits that other cover crops like cereal rye and clover can not offer.
When we use forage radishes as a cover crop, we will keep them in the ground all winter.
Read PostPlanting Winter Wheat
Winter Wheat Cover Crop
You can use winter wheat as a cover crop and then use it as green manure the following season. It's a great way to protect our garden's soil from erosion, prevent weeds from moving in and add some organic nutrients to your soil.
It is a hardy cereal that will not die off over the winter, unlike oats, and is great to use on overused or compacted soil.
Read PostCrimson Clover Grow Guide
Crimson Clover Cover Crops For Your Garden
In the united states, crimson clover is one of the most popular annual cover plants people grow for deer. Like most crimsons, it originally came from the Mediterranean region.
It is common for many people to confuse the crimson clover with the perennial red clover. The Crimson leaves have a more rounded tip
Read PostWinter Peas Guide
What Are Winter Peas Cover Crops
Winter peas get classified as a raid low-growing annual legume. Many gardens like to use the winter pea as an end-of-season cover crop. Legumes are a great way to naturally add additional nitrogen back into our gardens while protecting the soil from weeds.
They will protect your soil over the winter and can be green manure by tilling the plant into your soil at the start of the next season.
Read PostGreen Leaf Manure
What Is Green Leaf Manure
Green leaf manure is just a more specific version of green manure. In traditional green manure, cover crops are grown on the plot of land you plan on planting.
Green leaf manure removes the need for you to grow a cover crop. You simply collect fresh green material like leaves and grass and then till these into the soil.
Read PostScindapsus Aureum
The Household Money Plant
You need to place the plant in an area that is not in direct sunlight but not too dark. If you notice that brown spots are starting to develop on the plant's leaves, that usually indicates that its current location is too dark.
Depending on where you live, you may need to water the plant more in the summer or the winter. Where I live, the heat always on is freezing in the winter, making my environment very dry
Read PostBat Guano As Fertilizer
Why Is Bat Guano A Good Fertilizer
Bat guano has been used for centuries as an organic fertilizer to help improve the quality of our crops.
You can add bat guano into your compost or brew it into liquid fertilizer to provide nutrients for your plants. If your main goal is improving your soil's health, you will want to use the composting method.
Read Postgoat manure as fertilizer
Why Is Goat Manure A Good Fertilizer
Unlike many synthetic bottled nutrients, goat manure as a fertilizer is a much more reusable and environmentally friendly option.
Since I have been looking for more ways to use organic biofertilizers in my garden. I decided to find out how goat manure could possibly fill that role.
Read PostPlanting Winter Rye
Winter Rye Cover Crop
You can use winter rye as a cover crop or grow it for use as green manure as a way to add some nitrogen into the soil and prevent weeds from moving in.
The best pH is 5.0 7.0, but pH in the range of 4.5 8.0 gets tolerated really well by this plant.
Read PostPolyculture Fish Farming
What is polyculture fish farming?
A polyculture fish farm is a practice of placing more than a single aquatic organism in the same water source.
Fish production can get maximized when multiple species of fish with different feeding habits. Different feeding habits are important to ensure the species do not begin competing for resources with each other.
Read PostWeed Tea Fertilizer in Your Garden
Do Weeds Make A Good Fertilizer?
Many beneficial microbes are also available in liquid fertilizer made from weeds. These microbes help to improve the fertility and aeration of our soil.
We have the option of taking these weeds and turning them into fertilizer to help feed our gardens.
Read PostFish Amino Acid Fertilizer
faa organic fertilizer
With all of the issues we are finding from synthetic fertilizers, we need to begin using more regenerative farming methods with natural organic fertilizers.
FAA is great for both the plants and many different microorganisms that live within healthy soil. It provides both nutrients to plants and organisms within the soil.
Read PostFish as fertilizer in your garden what you need to know
Do Fish Make A Good Fertilizer?
Fish can work as a plant fertilizer and is a nutrient-rich natural organic source of nutrients for farmers and gardeners. It is an easy way to provide our plants with vitamins, amino acids, proteins, and more.
They are rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium and contain many trace elements like calcium, magnesium, sulfur, chlorine, and sodium.
Read PostBanana peel fertilizer How to Guide
Do Banana Peels Make A Good Fertilizer?
Banana peel fertilizer is easy to make and will help you to add more potassium to your garden.
Your plants use potassium to move water and nutrients between their cells. It will help to strengthen the stems of your plants and protect them from multiple diseases. It gets needed for the flowering of your plants, and potassium can also improve the quality of the fruit your plants will produce.
Read PostIntensive Subsistence Farming
What is Intensive Subsistence Agriculture
When someone participates in intensive subsistence farming, nearly all of the crops and livestock getting produced get used for sustaining the farmer's family.
It is rare for the farmers to produce enough crops or livestock to sell for cash or store for later use. Because of the lack of financial resources created in subsistence farming, primitive farming tools, and only family labor are available to the farmer.
Read PostDifference Between Natural and Chemical Fertilizers
Natural vs. Chemical Fertilizers
Organic fertilizers get made from manures, compost, or bone meals derived from different plant and animal sources.
Inorganic also known as synthetic fertilizers, go through a manufacturing process and use ammonium sulfate or ammonium phosphate. Although some inorganic fertilizers also get created from naturally occurring mineral deposits.
Read PostWhat is Contour Farming
What is contour farming?
Contour farming involves farming row patterns as level as possible around a hill. Thus, the row patterns do not go up and down but are around the hill.
By creating rows around the hill you will generate the equivalent of small dams that will slow waterfall and help to increase infiltration of the water into your soil while reducing erosion.
Read PostMushroom Compost Advantages What It Is
Using Mushrooms as fertilizer
Mushroom compost generally gets labeled as SMC or SMS (spent mushroom compost or spent mushroom substrate) when purchasing it from the store.
It can get used as a soil amendment for your soils, but you need to use it cautiously because of its high soluble salt levels. The salt levels can be high enough to harm young seedlings
Read PostDifference Between Humus and Compost
Is humus and compost the same thing?
Humus and compost are organic materials that feed your plants and increase nutrient uptake and disease resistance. While many people use the terms interchangeably, they are not the same thing.
The primary difference I could find between humus and compost is that compost is decomposing organic matter that you will use as a fertilizer and soil amendment.
Read PostWhat Is Polyculture Farming And Why To Use It
Polyculture Farming Methods
If you are trying to create a more sustainable garden, turning to polyculture farming methods is a great choice.
It is a well - tested and proven method to keep the soil quality high, protect the soil from damage. In addition, it reduces problems from pests and disease while allowing you to lower the number of chemical inputs you will need(hopefully to 0).
Read PostDifference Between Fertilizer and Compost
Compost or Fertilizer?
Many first-time gardeners ask if compost and fertilizer the same thing. The primary difference you should know between fertilizer and compost is that fertilizer directly feeds your plants, and compost will feed and condition your soil.
Compost is also an all-natural organic material that improves the soil's quality, tilth, and aeration.
Read PostHumic Acid Fertilizer Easily Add It For Your Best Plants
Humic Acid for Plants
Humic acid gets created by the final breakdown of decaying plant and animal matter from microbial degradation.
The organic acids get formed from the chemical and biological humification of the plant and animal matter through the biological activities of micro-organisms
Read PostBuckwheat A Green Manure Your Amazing Garden
About Buckwheat Green Manure
Buckwheat works excellent for producing green manure in your garden. It is a fast-growing plant, and it makes nutritious triangular seeds. It is a short-season cover crop. It is an easy to grow annual that grows best in sandy soils.
Buckwheat grows best in a cool climate with high moisture and gets used in sustainable tropical cropping systems.
Read PostAdvantages Biofertilizer What It Is
About Biofertilizer
Biofertilizers use living organisms to improve soil health and the growth of plants and seeds. But they are not technically an actual fertilizer since they do not directly add nutrients to your soil.
Unlike synthetic fertilizers, biofertilizers do not just add nutrients to the soil but aid in improving the fertility of the soil.
Read PostAdvantages Green Manure
About Green Manure
Green manure is a natural organic method of using specific plant and crop varieties that you grow then till into the ground to improve the quality of your soil.
Fertility building crops is another name that green manure gets called. Green manure uses cover crops to create a living mulch on the top of our garden's soil.
Read PostPrimitive Subsistence Agriculture Guide
Primitive Subsistence Farming
Primitive subsistence farming is considered the oldest form of agriculture and is still in use in some regions worldwide. Traditionally, primitive farming uses low technology and household labor to produce a small output of crops.
There are no chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, or technology getting used by the farmers.
Read Post23 Intensive Farming Advantages and Disadvantages
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In agriculture, intensive farming is one of the most widely used methods currently getting used. This is because intensive farming aims to provide the highest harvest per area of land.
This article will explore all the different advantages and disadvantages of using intensive agriculture.
Read PostEverything About Superphosphate Fertilizer
Your Superphosphate Fertilizer Guide
Superphosphate is the original(first)chemical fertilizer used to increase the fruiting and blooming of your plants.
Superphosphate fertilizer was developed around 1840 and was initially made from bonemeal and sulfuric acid.Later the process was altered and made from rock phosphate ore by treatment with sulfuric acid.
Read PostMonoculture Fish Farming
Monoculture In Aquaculture
In fish farming, there are two different farming methods. These are monoculture and polyculture fish farming. In this article, I will look over all the basics that get involved in monoculture fish farming.
When only one fish species gets farmed in a single pond or tank, it gets referred to as a monoculture farming method.
Read Post37 Pros and Cons of Using Fertilizers
Advantages and Disadvantages of Fertilizers
There are many advantages and disadvantages when adding fertilizers to the soil. It doesn't matter if you are using synthetic or organic. I have added every pro and con that I could find for both of these fertilizer types.
Read Post27 Advantages and Disadvantages of Solar Cells
Solar Cell Pros and Cons
With all of the advances getting made in solar panels and the ability to generate more power over the last few decades has become a significant source of renewable energy.
Keep reading to see every advantage and disadvantage I could find about adding solar energy as part of your renewable energy generating strategy.
Read PostBiochar in Compost
Using Biochar In Compost
To get the most benefit from using biochar in your compost bin, you want to make sure the biochar gets broken down into small pieces.
Biochar has a high surface area with the ability to absorb odors, ammonia, methane, and water. The smell from your compost can get significantly reduced by adding biochar into the mix.
Read PostThe Impact Of Monoculture On Food Security
Disadvantages Of Modern Agriculture
Many farmers like to focus on using monoculture plantations to maximize their profits. From a financial standpoint, it makes sense for them to focus on crops with high value and government backing. Having such a firm reliance on only a few species of plants could endanger our food supply.
Read PostAlgae As fertilizer What You Need To Know
Why Is Algae A Good Fertilizer
Algae is made up of living organisms. When added to the soil, they quickly break down. When breaking down, they release nutrients they contain into the ground. While Algae are breaking down, they release beneficial nutrients into the soil.
Read PostBiochar Fertilizer What You Need To Know
Biochar A Organic Fertilizer
Biochar by itself does not actually act as a fertilizer if it is in its raw form. To use it as a fertilizer, we need to make sure that it has been inoculated or activated. Using nonactivated biochar will actually draw many of the nutrients out of the soil, reducing our plant's production.
Read PostAre Biodegradable Pollutants As Great as you think
Do Biodegradable Pollutants Cause Environmental Problems
At first, I thought that many of the problems would get addressed by switching to biodegradable products. I was surprised to find how many different additional issues these products have been causing.
Read PostYour Green Manure For Clay Soil Guide
Green Manure to Improve Your Garden
The majority of our garden crops like to grow in airy, light, and adequately draining soil to achieve their best vegetative growth and final yields.
Keep reading to see how you can use green manure and cover crops to increase your soil fertility and create better future harvests.
Read PostWhat Does Hybrid Solar Panel System Have to Offer
All the basics about Hybrid Solar Panel System
Any solar generating system that will store energy for later use but still stays connected to the utility grid for high electrical usage scenarios is considered as a hybrid system...
Read PostIntercropping and Crop Rotation
Why You Should Use Intercropping and Crop Rotation
If you are wondering what the difference between Intercropping and Crop Rotation, you are not alone. Both Intercropping and Crop Rotation are different ways of setting up multiple cropping systems. The most basic definition is that Intercropping will grow 2 or more crops at the same time mixed in together.
Read Post21 Biomass Boiler Pros And Cons
Every Advantage and Disadvantage of Biomass Boilers
Biomass energy is a renewable resource that can help to heat our homes. By replacing our reliance on fossil fuels with biomass, we can reduce the number of emissions that we are releasing.
So keep reading and check out every advantage and disadvantage that results from us using biomass energy.
Read Post26 Ultimate Biomass Energy Pros And Cons
Every Advantage and Disadvantage of Biomass Energy
Like every energy source, it has both its advantages and drawbacks associated from using it.
I have checked all over to compile this list. So keep reading and check out every advantage and disadvantage that results from us using biomass energy.
Read Post25 Wave Energy Pros And Cons
Every Advantage and Disadvantage of Wave Power
Since our tides, ocean waves and river currents contain kinetic and potential energy. We can harness this power to generate electricity.
I have looked everywhere I could find, to compile the ultimate list of every advantage and disadvantage wave energy has. So keep reading and decide if wave power is something you think we should be investing our time and money.
Read PostUltimate Guide To The Types of Geothermal Energy
Check Out All The Types of Geothermal Power Plants
Geothermal energy uses heat that originates within the earth that occurs from a combination of two different sources. The first is the original heat that got produced from the formation of the land by gravitational collapse. The second source is from the heat generated by radioactive decay from various isotopes.
Read PostUltimate 19 Geothermal Energy Pros And Cons
Advantages and Disadvantages of Geothermal Energy
It does not matter if we are planning to use geothermal energy for heating our homes. Or providing electricity at our power plants many different considerations need to get taken into account.
I have looked all over the net to come up with every different advantage and disadvantage that I could find that is associated with using geothermal energy.
Read Post18 Pros and Cons of Hydroelectric Energy
Check Out Every Advantage and Disadvantage of Hydroelectricity
Over the last 120 years, very little has changed for the generation of hydropower. But recently governments have again started reviewing current hydropower generation techniques. So keep reading find out every pro and con so you can decide for yourself if hydroelectricity is something you think we should continue investing in.
Read PostAnaerobic Wastewater Treatment For More Renewable Energy
The Ability to Turn Sewage Sludge to Energy and Fertilizers
Anaerobic Treatment commonly referred to as Anaerobic digestion is an energy-efficient environmentally friendly technology. It is one of the two technologies we commonly use for wastewater treatment. The other method used is aerobic digestion.
Read PostDynamic Tidal Power An Amazing Reliable Energy
A Massive Amount of Energy Just Waiting
Unlike solar power and wind energy, dynamic tidal power is a more predictable renewable energy that is readily available to us. Since the tidal cycle is both predictable and repetitive, this allows us to estimate the amount of continual power that we can generate by tidal energy in different geographical locations.
Read Post14 Best Uses of Algae You Should Know
Check Out Every Use We Have For Algae
Currently, the efficiency of algae at storing energy is higher than any other natural or engineered process we know. The more we study these small aquatic organisms, the more benefits we are finding they have to offer us.
So keep reading to see all the different uses algae currently has to offer us.
Read PostThe Ultimate List 19 Advantages and Disadvantages of Coal
Check Out The Pros and Cons of Coal
From generating electricity (steam and thermal coal) to many of the daily items we use require coal for their production.
I have looked everywhere I could to find every different pro, and con that coal has to offer. So keep reading and decide for your self if coal is a product you are comfortable spending your money on.
Read Post15 Monoculture Farming Benefits and Disadvantages You Need to Know
Is Single Crop Planting A Good Or Bad Thing?
Unfortunately, it is not just GMO fields using this method either. Many organic farms have seen the benefits Monoculture Farming has to offer. So now, many large scale organic farms are also starting to focus on larger areas with a single crop type.
Keep reading to see all the pros and cons we could find from single-crop farming.
Read PostHydrofracking: The Secret Benefits and Alarming Disadvantages
All The Pros and Cons of Fracking
The natural gas from fracking may get promoted for being the cleanest form of energy from fossil fuels.
But to many people, there are just too many disadvantages from the hydrofracking process.
Read PostDo You Use Bioplastics Check Out And Discover The Pros And Some Alarming Cons
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Bioplastics
Conventional plastics primarily use petroleum oil as the primary raw material for their production. On the other hand, Bioplastics are using all natural plant-based raw materials such as corn, sugars, fruit peels potatoes, etc., to produce their product.
Read PostDifferences Between Biodegradable and Non-Biodegradable
So just what are the Differences Between Biodegradable and Non-Biodegradable
The primary difference between biodegradable and non-biodegradable items is the ability for biodegradable items to decompose and break down naturally...
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